Morning Pulse: Cane growers sleep on highways while Karnataka's leaders trade sting and 'push' barbs

Karnataka wakes up to two very different protests. On the highways of the north, sugarcane growers spent the night on the tarmac demanding a better price for their crop. In Bengaluru and Delhi, the political fight stayed personal: the Chief Minister answered the JD(S) sting charges with sarcasm, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah went to the police as well as the courts, and the BJP turned a few seconds of video from Delhi into a question of Kannada pride. The quota decision that matters most to students and job seekers is still waiting.

Farmers blocked national and state highways at several places on Tuesday, and in Belagavi the blockade ran through the night, Deccan Chronicle and Public TV reported. Chunappa Pujeri, state president of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, told Deccan Chronicle that roads were blocked at 20 to 30 places. Growers sat at the Hirebagewadi and Hattargi toll plazas on the Pune-Bengaluru highway, at the Bankapur toll in Haveri and on the Dharwad bypass, where Public TV reported traffic was held up for more than 11 hours. They want Rs 5,500 a tonne for cane, a higher minimum price for sugar, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations, and Central purchase of all ethanol made in the state.

The trigger was Delhi. Talks with Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Monday ended without a result, Deccan Herald reported, and growers were angered that the Centre sought more time. IANS reported that Joshi and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan promised a joint committee within a week, with the Centre, Karnataka, Maharashtra, farmer groups and mills on it. Public TV reported that farmer bodies have warned of a statewide bandh if no price is announced soon. Pujeri apologised to stranded travellers but said growers were not getting a fair price. We found no fresh response from the state or Central government by morning.

In the sting row, a correction to last night's Pulse: Chief Minister D K Shivakumar did answer Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters in Delhi, he said he was "very happy" Kumaraswamy had raised a good issue, a remark IANS described as sarcastic, and that time would answer the allegations. He said he would gather all the documents and challenged Kumaraswamy to hand his own papers to investigators, PTI and IANS reported. Kumaraswamy has countered by asking how the matter could be kept under wraps with a promise that time would answer, according to PTI. His allegations remain unverified, and no agency has been ordered to probe them.

Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, added a second front. In posts on X he said he was entirely innocent and called the videos a politically motivated attempt to malign him, ANI reported. He also said he had complained to the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner seeking an impartial investigation, ANI and TV9 Kannada reported. That puts the case with the state police, while Kumaraswamy is pressing for the CBI. We found no police statement on the complaint.

The newest row came from Monday's INDIA bloc march in Delhi. A video shows Shivakumar being pushed back in a jostling crowd as he walked beside Rahul Gandhi. The Karnataka BJP posted it and said Kannadigas would never forgive Gandhi or the Congress; state BJP president B Y Vijayendra alleged that Gandhi pulled the Chief Minister by his kurta and pushed him, and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya called it entitlement, PTI reported. Shivakumar flatly denied it, saying Gandhi had only suggested he take the vehicle behind because of the crowd, and accused the BJP of misinformation, PTI and Deccan Herald reported. Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said the Chief Minister was slightly pushed amid the crowd as security protected Gandhi, PTI reported.

On the High Court's quota ruling, the Cabinet decision we flagged has still not been announced, and we could not confirm a meeting date. Parameshwara has said the government will consult the Advocate General and the Law Department and must work out whether the order applies to past appointments or only future ones, IANS reported. That is still the question candidates selected under the 56 per cent quota need answered.

Three other loops stay open. No findings have been made public from the report Shivakumar sought on Monday's police action against anti-SIR protesters, the INDIA bloc's SIR petition has not been reported as listed in the Supreme Court, and the BJP has not dated its threatened siege of police stations over Form-7 FIRs.